In an electronic marketplace environment, a consumer often searches for particular items or categories of items that meets her needs or interests. By design, menu systems can allow a consumer to focus wholly on their preferred categories of items, and navigate away from other items unrelated to their needs or interests. In doing so, the consumer can be less prone to adding unrelated impulse purchases while shopping for a particular item or while shopping within a particular category of items.
While a targeted menu system can improve a consumer's shopping experience, that same convenience can produce drawbacks for suppliers. Suppliers are often unable to present consumers with a wide variety of items that are unrelated to popular items or popular categories of items that consumers often gravitate towards. As a result, suppliers tend to stock-pile items within fulfillment centers because those items are difficult to present to consumers through an electronic marketplace.